Home is where the heart is
by Therealgirlygeek
Summary: Allie Lucifer is an 8-year-old girl who lives on the streets of Central City. What happens when Edward Elric steps into her life and changes it forever? Occurs after the ending of Fullmetal Alchemist:Brotherhood so if you wish to avoid spoilers for that ending please hold off. Also, Edwin, Royai, and Almei ships ahead. Rated T because I'm paranoid.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, this is therealgirlygeek, and uh... sorry if this sucks, I was bored and had too many ideas in my head.  
**

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own FMA, that belongs to Funimation and other people/companies. I only own my OCs and my plotline.**

* * *

 _ **Chapter One**_

Allie Lucifer was used to the harsh conditions of Central City. After all, she had been living there for her entire life. At least, as long as she could remember, which in all truthfulness wasn't very long. She was eight years old, with long, dirty, tangled hair that didn't appear to have ever seen a hairbrush, dull green eyes that seemed to show nothing but sorrow and hopelessness to those who spared her a glance. She usually was lucky to have anything more than the tattered, thin cloth that could hardly be called a dress anymore, the original baby blue having been dulled out and covered by all matter of dirt and grime. Allie herself, in all completeness, looked as though she had never seen a proper bed or bathroom in her life. And, considering her life, that was mostly true.

Allie had been on the streets in Central City for as long as she remembered, because she had no other place to be. She didn't even remember her family, since they had all died in the Ishvalan Civil War. Her father had been a State Alchemist, while her mother was a simple soldier. She never had any aunts or uncles, and her grandparents had both died of an illness before she was even born. She had no siblings that she knew of, and even if she did none of them came to take care of her. Allie was well and truly alone in the big city of Central.

Of course, living on the streets had some upsides as well. Allie heard all about what was going on in the military while it was being discussed in the open. As a result of this, she knew all about the Elric brothers. Of course, she was only just a little kid without a family, so whatever hopes she had of meeting them were slim. Allie's life, though, she had learned did not stay with the laws of logic, and often strayed away from them, so it shouldn't have been nearly as much of a surprise as it was when one of them saved her life.

Allie got into as many tight squeezes as it was probably possible for a girl her age to get into. Of course, she was in a different situation than most girls her age, but the amount of times she almost died on a daily basis was still a little out of the ordinary. However, because of this strange string of 'luck' that only seemed to apply to her, she had learned to be wary of strangers. Somehow, this did nothing to lower the chances of her getting killed, but it made her feel good when she made an attacker regret targeting her.

It was a completely normal day when this specific event happened. The event itself hadn't started out as anything out of the ordinary; shady-looking man comes up to her and asks what she's doing out in the middle of the city, offers to bring her back to his place, blah blah blah. Allie knew the routine by now. So, clearly, she said 'no'. Now was when things started to stray from the ordinary. Rather than trying to convince her verbally, the man pulled out a knife and immediately held it to her throat. There was no way she could safely escape from this scenario, and she knew it, as any movement on her part would draw blood. Then, wordlessly, the man only moved the knife closer and closer until she could feel the sharp edge digging into her neck, the warm red liquid starting to fall down along her chest. Allie was starting to become terrified. She wasn't going to get out of this one, she was actually going to _die..._

"HEY!" The sudden shout startled both Allie and the attacker. Allie desperately tried to turn her head to see who was there, but only found that made it hurt more. Her attacker, on the other hand, seemed absolutely terrified before regaining his composure.

"Leave her alone," the new voice said.

"Whaddya gonna do if I don't?" her attacker responded.

"I'm going to ask one more time, leave her alone or you will regret it," the new voice replied, without even answering the question fully. Allie wasn't sure whether she should be afraid of the new person or happy about it.

"Hmm… how 'bout 'no', buddy," the attacker said. "And if you come any closer, she gets it."

Allie was now being used as blackmail, huh? She decided that she was going to hope for the best and hopefully, she would come out of this alive.

"I don't need to come closer to make you regret it," the new person said smugly, and suddenly a deafening _BANG!_ shot out, and smoke clouded Allie's vision for a moment. When the smoke cleared, Allie's eyes widened in terror. There was a bullet buried in her attacker's arm, fresh blood pouring from the wound. Her attacker noticed this too, probably far before she did, because he was no longer holding her at knifepoint and the knife had fallen onto the ground in front of Allie's bare feet. Allie got her first look at the new person, who was still holding a smoking gun, only to be utterly confused.

Allie appeared to be looking at what she had pieced together from descriptions passed from military officers to be Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist. But if he was a State Alchemist, why was he using a gun? Couldn't he have just used alchemy? Allie didn't fully understand it, but wasn't Edward Elric able to do alchemy without a transmutation circle? Allie wasn't fully understanding what was going on until she realized that there was no silver chain. Was he _not_ a State Alchemist anymore? Or was he just not Edward Elric? Somehow, she doubted the likelihood of the second option. She found it difficult to believe that anyone else would make the conscious decision to draw the kind of attention to themselves with their wardrobe choices like this.

The attacker ran away as quickly as he could with a bullet in his arm, and the supposed Edward Elric ran towards Allie and knelt down to her eye level. Allie just now realized that she was shaking from the terror of the situation.

"Are you okay?" 'Edward' asked her, and she slowly nodded. His eyes drifted to the cut on her neck, worry clearly etched on his face.

"What are you doing out here on your own?"

Allie's defensive barrier went up, and she didn't answer the question immediately. The next question – well, more like statement – shocked her maybe more than the gun had.

"You don't have parents, do you?"

Allie slowly shook her head, deciding that maybe it would be okay to trust him.

"That would definitely explain why you're in such bad shape," he said, more to himself than to her Allie decided. His eyes went back up to meet hers.

"Y'know what, kid? If you're willing, I can take you to a friend's house and see if she'll be willing to help you out," he said smiling, before the smile dropped somewhat. "Well, a friend's family, anyway…"

Allie didn't understand why he was being so nice to her, let alone asking her permission before bringing her someplace. Allie was about to say 'no', but then he spoke up again.

"Besides, you'll need someone to take a look at that cut there."

The thought hadn't occurred to Allie that the cut wouldn't just scab over and heal itself, like all her other injuries. It probably would, in time, but this cut was longer than most other cuts she got. Slowly and clearly still indecisively, she nodded her head, permission for him to take her to this friend's house. He just nodded in reply.

"I'm Edward Elric, by the way."

Allie had been right, but questions still swirled around her head, such as 'why did he use a gun instead of alchemy?' 'where's his pocket watch?' and 'Where's the other Elric, don't they go everywhere together?'

Those questions would probably be answered eventually, but at the time they were the most confusing things that Allie had ever dealt with up until this point. She was interested in whatever had happened to cause these changes in what she had heard about time and time again.

* * *

 **SO, yeah, not certain exactly where this is going to go but it's probably not going to involve homunculi or bad-ass Edward Elric alchemy fights. Still, hope you enjoy this.  
~TRGG out~**


	2. Update!

**Hello guys, TRGG here. I have some update stuff I forgot to mention before... So. I have an update schedule in mind, being every Saturday. I will do my best to keep with this. I will also be responding to reviews at the end of chapters when I get reviews so yep. In the meanwhile, hope you guys have a good day/night/whenever. Bye!**

 **~TRGG out~**


	3. Chapter 2

**Hey guys, TRGG here! So, I realized I screwed up a little bit on dates and ages and stuff...  
**

 **Allie: You got that right.**

 **TRGG: When did you get here...?**

 **Allie: Doesn't matter. Anyway, yeah, you messed up a little bit.**

 **TRGG: Yeah... so, last chapter I said that Allie's parents died in the Ishvalan Civil War, but if that was the case, she would already be an adult and this fic would not exist in the first place.**

 **Allie: Yep.**

 **TRGG: Also, another thing. I spent some of my free time this week planning out a plot line for this story, so if some things later on conflict with some of the introductory stuff in the first chapter. Anyway.**

 **Allie: Let us begin the chapter!**

 **TRGG: Yep! I do not own FMA or any of the canon content. I only own my plotline and my OCs. Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

 _ **Chapter Two**_

The friend's house Edward had spoken of didn't happen to be that far away, and seemed to be within Edward's direction anyway. Allie was still fairly wary of Edward, as she had learned to not just be welcoming to strangers, but for some reason she felt that she could trust him more. The reason was, apparently, fairly obvious once they got to the house. It wasn't all that big, and didn't seem like it would really fit more than a family of four. Ed knocked on the door, having it opened by by a small girl who was most likely younger than Allie, whose face lit up in happiness when she saw Edward.

"Daddy!" the girl cried, and Edward laughed a little.

"Good to see you too, Kari. Didn't get in too much trouble, I hope?" Edward replied, both to the girl and the woman who came up behind her, another young girl clutching the woman's sleeve.

"She was wonderful. Elicia and I would love to have her over more," the woman replied. The other girl, Elicia, nodded.

"Kari is fun to play with!"

Allie had to admit, she found the scene adorable. The two girls couldn't be any older than her, that was for sure. Edward had the same opinion of the scene, chuckling at the young girls' antics.

"Well, Elicia, I've gotta take Kari with me to go see the Colonel," Edward told her, at which her face fell some.

"She can come back right?" Elicia asked hopefully.

"Of course she can, I just don't want to have to explain why she's not here when her uncle Alphonse gets back. Do you remember Al?"

"Yeah! Is he still bigger than you?"

Despite whatever had happened in the time that had gone by, Edward still had a short fuse when it came to the height remark, despite the fact that he was closer to average size than before.

"He's not nearly as tall as before," Ed said, just managing to keep his composure together in front of the little girl.

"Come on, Elicia, we don't want to keep Mr. Elric and Kari waiting here," the woman said, and Elicia complied, sadly at first but when she was promised that another visit would be scheduled soon, she rushed right inside.

"Thanks for letting her stay again," Ed told the woman.

"It's no problem," the woman replied. "Now, I don't think the Fuhrer would be too happy if you were late. Technically, you're still part of the military, despite not being a state alchemist anymore," the woman said, and Ed sighed. The woman fixed him with a look and he gave in.

"Alright, alright, I'm going... oh, wait, Gracia?" Ed said, before remembering what he told Allie. The woman, Gracia, turned back.

"Yes?"

"Well this is a little hard to explain, but I rescued a little girl from someone who was trying to kill her and-"

Ed never got to finish the sentence, because Gracia had rushed over, having noticed Allie herself.

"Oh, you poor thing... let's get you cleaned up, alright?" Gracia said, and Allie reluctantly nodded. She didn't want all of her cuts and scars to reveal themselves from under the dirt, but she was being offered a luxury she hadn't had for years - a bath. The prospect of actually having warm water to clean herself bettered her attitude right away, and as Gracia gently led her inside the house, she could just catch a glimpse of Ed, looking back at her with a look that was half-way between pity and determination, though for what reason she couldn't figure out.

It was now six in the evening, and for the first time in years, Allie was in clothes that were clean and in one piece, starting to drift off to sleep in her chair from the exhaustion that plagued her. She had been dealing with it for a while now, but she had always just fought it off, needing to stay alert for possible threats. Now, though, she was safe and had food that didn't come from the garbage, and clothes that she hadn't found in the same place. The wave of exhaustion was somewhat foreign to the young girl, but she could only handle so much before she had to crash. Gracia didn't send her pitying looks at all - the ones that Allie caught her glancing at her with were ones of concern and care for the young girl.

Elicia was nice, too. Despite coming off as overly energetic, she wanted to help Allie as much as she could. Allie had found out that Elicia was ten at the current moment, and that Kari, her friend, was six. So Elicia was a bit older than her, then... Nonetheless, the young girl was quite adorable. Allie just hoped that she didn't cause too much of a problem here.

* * *

It hadn't taken too long for Ed and Karina to reach Central HQ from Gracia's house. Ed took a deep breath, preparing for the immanent meeting. It had been seven years since Ed and Al had stopped Father from creating a philosopher's stone of the whole country of Amestris, and in that time Colonel Mustang had made his way up to the rank of Fuhrer. However, the effects of being forced into human transmutation had not yet worn off for the Flame Alchemist, as he was still blind. Ed wasn't quite sure why this was, as he had heard that Mustang had accepted to use a Philosopher's Stone to get his sight back. The exact details were still somewhat unclear to the former state alchemist.

Ed wouldn't get to see Mustang any time soon, though, it appeared. A startled girl with blonde hair pulled up in a ponytail and coal-black eyes came running out of the building, a stick of chalk grasped firmly in her hand. She saw Ed and Karina and rushed over to them, clearly worried about something.

"Alyssa, what's going on?" Ed asked. Alyssa Mustang was Colonel Hawkeye and Fuhrer Mustang's daughter, and had been training in alchemy since she first was able to read. At this time, she was only seven.

"Meriam... he's trying... to draw... _that_ circle..." Alyssa got out between breaths, and Ed's gaze changed from curious worry to fearful worry.

"Where is he," Ed asked somewhat forcefully, and Alyssa lead the two into the building. However, Ed didn't realize that Karina had followed him.

Soon enough, the trio reached an open door to a very dark room. Inside the room was a boy with golden-blonde hair like Ed's, trying desperately to finish up the transmutation circle he had drawn on the ground. Meriam Elric was trying to bring back his best friend, who had died in a ditch during a rainstorm. His best friend had been like a brother to him, and Meriam apparently felt like he couldn't live without his late friend. Hence, he was trying to commit the ultimate taboo in alchemy.

"Meriam, stop," Ed said firmly, and Meriam seemed to just ignore him. Karina chose this moment to make her presence obvious to all in the room. She rushed forward to try and help her dad get him to stop by pulling him out of range of the circle. Just as she stepped foot in the range of the circle, however, Meriam started the transmutation. And it was too late to get both of the Elric children out of the danger zone.

* * *

 **Alright, sorry it was kinda short, was unsure about transition stuff. Anyway, review time!**

 **Lizz94 says:**

"I like this story already, always wanted to 'know' what would happen afterwards. I like your 'style'. Also, involving a young girl will give the story some new possibilities. I did think the beginning was slow and suddenly you jumped towards the scene with the knife, but you gave a good impression of your character in that time. Keep it up, I am excited for more chapters about El and Edward!"

 **Thanks for the positive feedback! I kinda suck with transitions, so sorry about that awkwardness. Hope that you enjoyed the chapter!**

 **ChibiestMoon says:**

"This story seems promising, and Im very curious to see where it goes! What an awesome beginning!"

 **Thanks! Once again, hope that you enjoyed this chapter!**

 **Alice says:**

"Hii awesome start of the story! Keep it up! Can't wait for more! (P.s I have account but not bother to sign in its AliceandSam1516 )"

 **Hope that this chapter satisfied your patience! I hope you guys are all enjoying the rest of the story as much as I'm enjoying writing it!**

 **That's all for now, see ya all next week!**

 **~TRGG out~**


	4. Chapter 3

**TRGG: Heyyy guys!**

 **Allie: The chapter's a week late...**

 **TRGG: ...I know... I'm sorryyyyyyy! Pls dun kill meh ;-; Life got in the way.**

 **Allie: by "life" she means her Minecraft server updated to a new map.**

 **TRGG: And?!**

 **Allie: ...In any case, moving on... Welcome back to Home is where the heart is! So, the author forgot to mention when my parents _actually_ died in the last chapter, so. **

**TRGG: Hey, it's not my fault. I tried to edit it in but the site didn't want to let me...**

 **Allie: riiight.**

 **TRGG: It's not a lie! Anyway. Allie's parents died during the Briggs vs Central battle in the end of Brotherhood, neither of her parents were state alchemists. They were both normal soldiers. Other than that detail, everything stays the same. As far as I'm remembering, anyway...**

 **Allie: correct. Annyway, onto the chapter.**

 **TRGG: Enjoyy!**

 **(Slight cursing warning. VERYVERYMILD but it's still there. Also, blood. Just a warning.)**

* * *

Chapter 3

Ed couldn't seem to tear his eyes away from the pool of his daughter's blood on the floor. He also could feel the tears start to well up, a semi-foreign feeling for the former alchemist. However, the accompanying guilt was nothing new in the slightest. He remembered it all too well from the days when he and Al were looking go get their bodies back to normal again. He felt guilty that he had never explained the risks of human transmutation to either of his children before they went off and did something stupid, like Meriam just had. Meriam himself, no doubt terrified of what he had seen beyond his portal of Truth, was now clinging to Ed's legs, his gaze too locked on his sister's blood. Ed could feel Meriam shaking.

"I... I _hurt_ her..."

Meriam's voice was little more than a whisper, but it conveyed the whirlwind of emotions swirling through the young boy's body; sadness, regret, fear, and as with Ed, most prominently, guilt. Ed feld a pang of recognition from those words, from back when he and Al had first tried human transmutation of their own, all those years ago.

 _"It's a rebound!" Ed cried as he watched his leg start to dissolve, his gaze immediately snapping back up to his younger brother, who was being pulled away from him._

 _"ED, HELP ME! ED! PLEASE!" Al cried desperately, tears in his eyes. Immediately, tears filled Ed's eyes as well. He reached out desperately for Al's outstretched hand, but it was snatched away from him moments before he could pull his brother out. In that instant, Ed, too, was pulled from reality._

 _When he was launched back into it, his missing leg erupted in pain, and he screamed as he clutched at the bleeding stump. His vision snapped open on Al's owner-less clothes._

 _"...Al! Alphonse! ALPHONSE!" Ed cried out, desperately hoping for some response. When he didn't get one, he panicked._

 _"Damn! DAMN! How could this have happened!? It... it wasn't supposed to be like this... oh no... he's_ _ **gone!**_ _Somebody... help me... Mom!" Ed cried out, still grabbing at what used to be his leg. "Mom..."_

 _Instead of his mother, a grotesque black figure that wasn't truly even alive lay where their transmutation materials had been only moments before. Ed tore his eyes away from the grotesque sight and looked around desperately for something - anything - he could use to keep his brother in this world._

 _"Damn it!" Ed exclaimed again, having wrapped some cloth around his leg and dragged a suit of armor down from by the wall and using the blood covering both his hands to draw a transmutation circle to bind Al's soul to the armor inside of it._

 _"Give him back! That's my_ _ **brother**_ _, damn you! I don't care what the toll is! Take my_ _ **other**_ _leg! or my_ _ **arm**_ _! Take_ _ **both**_ _of them! You can even have my heart. Just... GIVE HIM BACK! HE'S THE ONLY FAMILY I HAVE!" With that, Ed clapped his hands together and activated the circle, sending him right back into the white expanse he had just returned from._

Ed jolted out of the flashback to find that Colonel Hawkeye was roughly pushing him out of the doorway. A terrified-looking Alyssa stood behind Ed and Meriam, clinging onto her father's arm tightly. Hawkeye had a medical kit with her, and as she knelt down by Karina, she opened it up and pulled out a roll of bandages and started wrapping them around the unconscious girl's side to stop the bleeding. Once she had finished this task, she turned to Ed and Meriam.

"We need to get her to a hospital, and then I want to know whose bright idea this was," Hawkeye gestured to the human transmutation circle on the ground. Meriam glanced worriedly up at Ed. Both Elrics were scared about what Hawkeye's reaction would be to Meriam's action.

* * *

"So, what happened back there," Hawkeye asked. They had gotten Karina to a hospital, and she was now safely in a bed and with proper medical attention. No doubt that once the young girl was able to, she would be begging for automail. Karina was one of those people who couldn't stand to be hindered by any physical condition, and she was determined to learn as much alchemy as she could. However, for the current time, she remained unconscious. At the same time, Hawkeye was making good on her promise from earlier. The three of them, Ed, Meriam, and the expectant Colonel, were sitting on the floor in the hospital room. Alyssa and the Fuhrer had gone looking for something to eat not too long ago, Mustang being led by his daughter, who was acting as his eyes for the moment.

However, this also meant that Meriam and Ed had to answer the question of "whose fault is this mess", and Meriam was terrified. There was no way to gauge the reaction of Colonel Hawkeye, and the last time she had to encounter human transmutation was when Mustang was forced into human transmutation by the homunculi Pride and Wrath.

Neither of the Elrics answered the question initially, so Hawkeye repeated it. Ed almost felt like the former Lieutenant was more concerned about the safety of everybody involved than about the actual incident, but it was always hard to tell with Hawkeye. Sometimes, the woman could make the world feel like it was completely falling apart and that there was likely nothing there to keep it in one piece. At least, that was Ed's previous experience with Hawkeye when she got extremely angry, which was rare to happen in the first place. Eventually, Ed spoke up.

"Well, it's a long story..." he said, still clearly trying to avoid the question. Hawkeye wouldn't fall for the trick, though.

"We've got time," Hawkeye responded.

Ed sighed. He didn't want to put Meriam at risk of Hawkeye's anger, but at the same time, he didn't want to be a victim of it either. Hawkeye waited for either of them to answer patiently. He was probably only spared answering that question for the time being by Alphonse coming into the room with a sleeping girl that Ed only barely recognized as Allie. What she was doing here, he had no clue. Hadn't she been with Mrs. Hughes the last time he had seen her? Why was she here, then?

"Ed, what are you doing here?" Al asked worriedly. Two pairs of expectant, curious eyes locked on Ed, and Meriam's worried eyes went up to try to gain safety from the truth that would have to be revealed.

Well... ah... that's kind of a long story..." Ed said, somewhat distracted by Allie's presence in the room. Hawkeye sighed, responding once more to the side-stepping reply with "we have time". Ed sighed. There didn't appear to be any way out of this situation. Ed just hoped that Meriam didn't get too mad at him afterwards.

* * *

Al looked sadly at Meriam after the story had been recounted for Al and Hawkeye. Hawkeye, however, looked at Meriam with confusion in her eyes.

"One question, Meriam," Hawkeye said. Meriam looked at Hawkeye nervously.

"Yes...?"

"What was taken from you?"

Ed and Al both looked at Hawkeye with questioning gazes, although Ed puzzled it out fairly quickly. Despite this, Hawkeye refused to explain any of her statement to Al, still looking to Meriam for a response. Meriam too seemed slightly surprised by the question.

"Is... is that why Kari lost her arm...?"

This question shocked no one in the room except for Al.

"WHAT!?" Al exclaimed. "You didn't tell me that part, Ed!"

At first, it appeared that this had woken up Allie. She groaned and pushed herself out of Al's arms and onto the floor before going back to sleep for certain. A collective, silent sigh of relief seemed to sweep through the room. It wouldn't help in this situation to have Allie awake and only making the situation more difficult to handle. Karina, on the other hand, did not appear to be nearly as lucky to stay asleep through that outburst. Only moments later, the youngest Elric came barreling towards Ed, nearly knocking him over in the chair. Bandages were still wrapped over the bloody stump that had only hours before been her arm. Her remaining hand grasped tightly at Ed's coat, her face buried into the cloth. The side of the bandages were stained red from the blood that they had stopped coming out of the wound.

"Daddy..." Karina cried into ed's coat, her voice muffled by the fabric. Ed didn't say anything, merely pulled the crying girl into his chest protectively. Meriam huddled closer to Ed and Karina, but the reason appeared to be more than just comfort. His hand grasped onto Ed's arm like a lifeline after flailing about in the air for a few seconds. Everyone in the room watched this with confusion.

"Meriam?" Ed asked.

"Daddy?" Meriam replied. "Who turned off the lights...?"

And at that exact moment, Allie woke up panting.

 **TRGG: and that, people, is how you pull off a cliffhanger!**

 **Allie: It made no sense unless you know... uh... stuff... later in the story...**

 **TRGG: Spoilers! Anyway, yeah. I'll explain the Meriam thing... NEXT CHAPTER! HAHAHA!**

 **Ed: You're cruel, y'know that?**

 **TRGG: ...of course you decided to show up.**

 **Ed: ...what else were you expecting? Also, how'd you get the flashback so precise? Especially with the dialogue...**

 **TRGG: MANGA IS MY ALLY, DEAR EDWARD ELRIC!**

 **Ed: what?**

 **TRGG: I... uh... read through the scene in my FMA manga and wrote down what was happening. Basically.**

 **Ed: I don't understand most of that, but okay...?**

 **TRGG: you don't have to understand it.**

 **Ed: ...ookay then...**

 **Allie: Anyway...**

 **TRGG: There were no reviews on this story last chapter, so... Hope ya enjoyed! Seeya next week!**


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Allie panted, glancing around her nervously as if something would jump out at her at any second. Once she had calmed down, she realized three pairs of golden eyes and one pair of brown eyes were locked on her. One of the people she recognized as Edward, from when he had helped her earlier. The other three she didn't recognize, and a fifth person who had their face buried into Ed's jacket didn't even seen to recognize she was there. Allie glanced at the fifth person curiously. Something felt… off, familiar one could argue, about his behavior. He looked like a younger variation of Ed. He looked up in Allie's direction, and Allie realized what was wrong.

"Daddy… what was that noise?" The boy asked Ed. Ed turned his attention back to the boy, worry etched on his face. "Daddy?" The boy repeated.

"Meriam… can you see me?" Ed asked nervously. Meriam, the boy, shook his head.

"All I see is black…"

Allie found herself up and in front of Meriam before she even realized what was going on. She didn't even really know the majority of the people in this room, and she certainly didn't know who Meriam was. However, basing off of what she had just heard, he only just lost his vision moments before.

"Has this happened before?" Allie was asking him curiously.

"What do you mean…? I don't… I don't recognize your voice…" Meriam responded.

"It's okay… my name's Allie. Has everything gone black like this before?" Allie repeated, specifying her question better.

"No…why did it go black?" Meriam said.

"I don't know exactly… but it should come back in a couple minutes, okay?" Allie said. She was so focused on making sure that Meriam didn't freak out that she didn't realize that everyone was still watching her, curious about her sudden command of the situation. Ed was the most curious about this, based off of what he had known about Allie before.

True to Allie's word, Meriam's vision returned roughly three minutes later. His golden eyes locked onto Allie's, and he tilted his head.

"How did you know it would come back?" Meriam asked.

 _It's happened to me before…_ Allie thought bitterly. "I know someone who had that issue a few times." Allie could hear that her excuse was weak, and anyone with any experience picking out lies from the truth would be able to tell that she wasn't explaining herself truthfully.

"Oh." Meriam stated.

That was when Allie realized that everyone was still watching her. Based off of what she had heard about Ed, this was not going to go unquestioned. And now, Allie realized that the other kid in the room only had one arm. It didn't take long for Allie to piece together what may have caused Meriam's 'blindness spell', as she called them. _Oh my god…_ Allie thought. Had the two kids actually tried to bring someone back to life…? Allie couldn't help remembering her own experiences with the horrible art.

 _"_ _Allie, don't worry about me… just worry about yourself, okay?" Tasha begged Allie, the inhuman being behind her already holding her sharper-than-should-be-legitimate fingers to Allie's friend's neck._

 _"_ _Your choice…" the homunculus said. "Either she dies or you do it."_

 _Allie had no idea why she was being put through this… why any of them were. Why they were trying to force her to commit the ultimate taboo of alchemy after telling her what would happen. It made no sense… what were they playing at…?_

 _"_ _Tasha… Tasha don't…" Allie said, her voice barely above a whisper. She didn't want to watch as this homunculus put an end to her friend's life… however, the only way out of it may be giving up Allie's life. She knew that this was under no circumstances 'equivalent exchange'._

 _"_ _Made your choice yet?" A different homunculus said. His palm-tree like hair shot out in every direction, but Allie was terrified of the creature whose appearance was almost comical._

 _"_ _I…" Allie said, tears welling up in her eyes as she looked at Tasha._

 _"_ _Time's up," the first homunculus said, and Allie saw red. The red that was her best friend's blood._

"Allie? You okay?" Allie was shaken out of her flashback by Ed shaking her shoulder. Shakily, Allie nodded. _No point in worrying him – any of them – more than necessary…_ Allie thought. It would do no good to make Ed worry about what had happened to her years ago. That would only make things more difficult for Allie to navigate her way around…

"Okay… If you're sure…" Ed responded, glancing at the one-armed girl. "What are we going to do about that arm of yours, Karina…" Ed whispered to himself, loud enough that Allie could hear it though.

"Ed… shouldn't you tell Winry about this?" The other man in the room said.

"…she would probably kill me if I didn't, huh Al…?" Ed responded. "We'll probably head back to Resembool anyway to try and let things calm down a little here, anyway…"

Allie couldn't help but feel worried for Meriam, now that she knew that he was like her in…that respect. Allie didn't' really want to think about it, but sometimes the topic came up, however unwanted it was, in her mind. Besides, Allie didn't know whether she could go back to Gracia even if she wanted to, and if she stayed on the street then things could go very much downhill, whether or not she wanted them to. Meaning, by Allie's logic, the safest thing to do would be to go with Ed to Resembool…

How to pose that decision to someone much older than her who she barely knew was going to be tricky, though.

* * *

Ed glanced at the clock in the train station, holding onto each of Meriam and Karina's hands on the sides that he could. The trio was waiting for the train to Resembool to arrive, and Ed was starting to feel a little impatient. It was a part of him that he had never managed to figure out where it came from, nor how to keep it under control. Al had scolded it many times during their search for the stone, and before even. Finally, he heard the train coming up, and started to move.

He felt a tugging at the back of his jacket. He turned around, only to see Allie standing there. He raised an eyebrow. _What's she doing here…? I thought I asked Hawkeye to keep an eye on her…_ Ed thought, shrugging it away. Whatever the reason, apparently his life and hers were now intertwined. At least, with the way she kept finding him, it certainly appeared that way.

"Can I… go with you?" Allie asked, her eyes locked on the ground.

"Since you don't seem to want to stay with anyone else, I don't see much of a choice," Ed said, and the new group of four moved on to the train.

* * *

 **Sorry about the cruddy quality of this chapter, guys... I had some writer's block, which is why this is being updated right smack in the middle of the week. . I also didn't have to go to school today for PAARC testing, since I got both math and science done last semester... My school has an interesting system. Anyway. Once again, no reviews...**

 **Reviews are always welcome, guys... even if it's just to say "I like it". Feedback kinda helps me keep motivation for projects... unless, of course, they're school-related. In any case, I've got a rough idea where this is going, so...yeah.**

 **Also age stuff, I'm realizing now that Allie would actually be like 13 at this point in the story. I'll explain in later chapters. In any case, yeah... sorry about delay stuff, writers blocks sucks so much .**

 **Hope you enjoyed it!**

 **P.S. Sorry about the length of these chapters... I'm not sure how to make them longer without making the story like, 10 chapters total. .**


End file.
